Bordered by three oceans, Canada's Navy has always needed ships and crew who could brave the harshest of seas to enforce her sovereignty and protect her freedom.
The destroyer has been "the very finest ship" for such tasks. Their crews may call them tin-cans but these hardy ships have faced off against U-Boats, Gunboats, Sampans and North Atlantic gales. From Ushant to Inchon, from the frigid Atlantic and wide Pacific to the narrow Gulf, they have sailed and fought and shown the flag.
They are the greyhounds of the seas. They are the Tin-Can Canucks.

The Royal Canadian Navy celebrated it’s centenary in 2010. In 2014 the RCN celebrated 100 years of Canadian Submarines. Coming up in 2020 it will be 100 years since the commissioning of Canada’s first Destroyers HMCS Patriot and HMCS Patrician. It will be the centenary of Tin-Cans (destroyers) and Tin-Can Canucks (destroyer sailors) in the Canadian Navy.

One of the Tin-Can Canucks post-war: Royal Canadian Navy Tribal-class destroyer HMCS Athabaskan (II) photographed from HMAS Sydney (III), probably in Korean waters.

Tin-Can Canucks: A Century of Canadian Destroyers looks at the history of this unique type of warship and it`s use by the Royal Canadian Navy from the commissioning of the first destroyers Patriot and Patrician in 1920, to the fate of the last of the Iroquois-class destroyers HMCS Athabascan (III) as of 2016.

The book also looks at the stories of the men (and women) who have served aboard such distinguished vessels, and the mark on world history they have left behind. Covered are events such as the famous destroyer action off Ushant during World War Two, to the shelling of an American town by a Canadian destroyer during the cold war, to the tragic gearbox explosion aboard HMCS Kootenay which resulted in the worst peace-time loss of life in the Royal Canadian Navy.

Tin-Can Canucks highlights and presents each ship individually, providing both technical and historic information as well as connecting the various ships and their assignments during war and peace–some of which were far from Canadian waters. In all 68 vessels are presented each with their own `biography`. Included is an extensive index and bibliography providing the reader ample opportunity to discover more about each of these warships.

The author–a former Canadian Forces reservist and ship modeller–weaves these tales of RCN warships together from a variety of primary and secondary sources, to present a view Canadian destroyers which hasn`t seen print before. If you`re a military history buff, a ship modeller or just someone interested in the Royal Canadian Navy, this book is for you.

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Sean Campbell is a former reservist with the Canadian Forces and an ardent student of Canadian Military History. Hailing from Prince Edward Island, an interest in the Royal Canadian Navy may be only too appropriate.

He is a competitive scale modeller, having won awards for his work and with several models of Canadian naval vessels on public display. A software engineer turned digital marketing consultant, he currently resides in Calgary, Alberta with his daughter and an overweight guinea pig.

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the page above are "affiliate links." This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."